April 15. 19C9I 



NATURE 



205 



portioning of the size of the air inlet holes and of the gas 

 injector, thus causing a perfect mixing of the air and gas 

 for combustion. The lower part of the burner is con- 

 stricted and the upper part enlarged so as to allow a 

 thorough mixing of the gas and air before combustion. 

 The top part of the burner is furnished with a deep nickel 

 grid to prevent back-flashing of the flame. This nickel 

 grid is of very stout make, and is about i cm. deep, thus 

 making it practically impossible for the flame to flash 

 back. Although the burner gives a very hot flame, the 

 amount of gas used is by no means excessive, and as 

 metals are very rapidly melted, and other operations, such 

 as fusion and reduction, carried out very quickly, the gas 

 consumption for a given operation is less than with other 

 burners. 



One of the greatest advantages is that, by using the 

 M^ker burner, operations which used to require a large 

 amount of leg-work with the blow-pipe can now be carried 

 out without employing a blow-pipe at all. In order to 

 obtain very high temperatures another form of the M^ker 

 burner is arranged for use with the blow-pipe or compressed 

 air. 



These burners are made in a large variety of sizes and 

 shapes, and from our experience with them we shall 

 «xpect to see them largely employed in the future. 



THE DEFECTS OF ENGLISH TECHNICAL 

 EDUCATION AND THE REMEDY.' 

 '\\7'HEN' writing the paper which I am going to read 

 to you I have rarely been free from the oppressive 

 thought that many of my audience will justly consider it 

 forwardness, bordering even on arrogance, on my part to 

 lecture to an association of English technical teachers 

 on the defects of English technical education. Not only 

 have I been interested in this subject merely for a few 

 years, whereas many of my audience have spent a life- 

 time in it, but I am not an Englishman myself. 



Your secretary, however, insisted that the exceptional 

 opportunities which I have had of becoming acquainted 

 with technical education as it affects, not only the lecturer 

 and the student, but also the employer of labour, in this 

 country as well as in Germany, would carry weight with 

 you and would assure your serious consideration of my 

 views ; but further, standing as I do outside the teaching 

 profession, and having no private interests to serve, I 

 thought that, whatever criticism I might experience, I 

 should not be suspected of any ulterior motive if I came 

 forward to point out what, to my mind, are the weak- 

 nesses and faults of our present system, and to advocate 

 what appears to me the only right course to adopt. So 

 I accepted your secretary's- invitation, and will, with your 

 permission, now proceed to place my somewhat unconven- 

 tional views before you. 



The importance of technical education for any modern 

 nation, but most particularly for England, cannot easily 

 be overestimated, a fact which is being pointed out so 

 frequently and acknowledged so generally that I need not 

 dwell upon it at any length. There is not a student of 

 national economy who fails to realise that Germany and 

 (he United States, now serious rivals to English trade, 

 owe their rapid industrial and commercial development 

 largely to the magnificent system of technical education 

 which they have established. 



Indeed, the recognition of this fact by all thoughtful 

 men has led to vigorous efforts being made during the 

 last ten years or so, and to a prodigious amount of money 

 now^ being annually spent in this country for the purposes 

 under discussion. 



No one will deny that a very great deal has been accom- 

 plished, and personally I should be the last to under- 

 rate the value of the work now being done in numerous 

 institutions, or to belittle the services of so many pioneers, 

 to whom, indeed, the nation owes a debt of gratitude. 

 Nevertheless, it must be. and is, widely recognised that 

 technical education is only in its infancy, that it is as 

 yet far from exercising to the full and in an efficient 



1 Paper read before the Association of Teachers in Technical Tnstituti' ns 

 <West Yorkshire branch) in Huddersfield, on March j;, by Dr. Robert Pohl. 



NO. 2059, VOL. 80] 



manner that propelling influence on the industries of the 

 country which is its aim and duty. 



Almost invariably, however, when this fact is recognised 

 and pointed out, on whatever occasion it may be, the con- 

 clusion is drawn from it that the people of England must 

 be prepared " to spend more money in erecting and 

 thoroughly equipping technical colleges and universities. 



The main object of this paper is to prove the fallacy 

 of that conclusion, and that every new college erected 

 is another stone round the neck of technical education. 

 It is, in my opinion, certainly not lack of money which 

 is to blame for the admittedly unsatisfactory state of 

 aff'airs. From the statistical data contained in the 

 Government Blue-books and Budgets I have made a 

 calculation as to the total expenditure of public money in 

 England and Wales as compared with Prussia. The two 

 countries are similar in industrial activity and in the 

 character of their population. Prussia, with its highly 

 efficient educational system and its technical institutions 

 admired by all the world, spends roughly 6oo,oooL per 

 annum on current expenditure. The statistics available 

 for England, particularly as to local contributions, are 

 rather scantv, but from a very moderate estimate 1 find 

 that at least i,ooo,oooL is annually spent for equivalent 

 purposes. Taking into account the larger population of 

 Prussia, we arrive at the result that England already 

 spends about twice as much money as Prussia, reckoned 

 per head of population, with educational results which — I 

 say it without hesitation— will not bear any comparison. 

 If one would compare the extraordinary expenditure in- 

 curred in building and equipping new' institutions, the 

 result, I believe, would be even more unfavourable to 

 England. 



Neither lack of money nor of effort is the fault, but the 

 fundamental principle is wrong on which rests the whole 

 structure of technical training in this country. 



Technical education is not a private or local, but by 

 its very nature a national affair, and the most essential 

 condition for efiiciencv and economy is that it should be 

 established on the basis of systematic national organisa- 

 tion, and that it should be nationally managed. 



The numerous objections raised by employers and the 

 general public against technical colleges, and the still 

 more numerous grievances . of those actively engaged in 

 technical training, are largely, if not solely, connected 

 with the present unsound foundation. 



With the object of proving the truth of these sweeping 

 statements, let us briefly consider what are the complaints 

 I refer to. 



(i) The number of day students in all institutions, and 

 consequentlv the attendance at the majority of classes, is 

 far too small. Taking the figures given by the British 

 Education Section of the Franco-British Exhibition for 

 1908, there were in England and Wales forty-five technical 

 and agricultural colleges, with a total attendance of 3344 

 day students. This corresponds to an average of seventy- 

 five students per college, or approximately six students 

 per class. These figures do not include the technical 

 students of universitie's and university colleges, but, never- 

 theless, the facts are even worse, because the large number 

 of smaller technical institutions providing for day instruc- 

 tion is omitted from the list, and the preponderance of 

 students in the first-vear courses must also be kept in 

 mind; and, further, even in the largest colleges, in such 

 institutions as the Birmingham University and the Man- 

 chester Municipal School of Technology, the attendance of 

 day students bears no proportion to the cost of their 

 beautiful equipments. Manchester, for instance, reports a 

 total attendance in all departments of 16-; full-course day 

 students during the present sessiort. In numerous institu- 

 tions it is by no means an exception to find classes, especi- 

 allv in more advanced subjects, consisting of two or three 

 students, and manv classes only exist on paper, there being 

 no students at all to take advantage of the f.acilities offered 

 to them. 



(2) The average, education of day students entering for 

 technical instruction is poor, and the diversity of their 

 previous training so great, that the gravest educational 

 difficulties result. This is only partly due to the unsalis- 

 factorv state of primary and secondary education. The 



